In the fabrication of electronic components, a plurality of component planes are fabricated in successive process steps. On account of the further miniaturization of these components, the problem arises that the technical means used in this case, in particular the masks, have to be oriented relative to the respective intermediate product of the component in such a way that the various planes are arranged in the envisaged manner with respect to one another.
This requirement demands a very exact alignment of the masks not only relative to the component as a whole but specifically relative to the respectively preceding arrangement of the masks, which is critical for the relative positions of the component structures. A corresponding orientation of the component planes in successive steps of the fabrication process is made more difficult due to the fact that the structures fabricated often do not produce a sufficient optical contrast and so cannot be identified accurately enough in subsequent method steps. That makes it considerably more difficult in particular to align the masks used in later fabrication steps.